Little Boy Blue and Scarecrow sing and dance, Little Bo Peep and her sheep join in. Black Sheep cries "wolf", which causes problems when a real wolf shows up. Animation by U. B. Iwerks.


This movie is part of the collection: Film Chest Vintage Cartoons

Producer: Castle Films
Production Company: Celebrity Pictures
Keywords: little bo peep; little boy blue; fairy tale

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Reviewer: kylecurious - - November 15, 2011
Subject: In the Public Domain?
Great vid - is this in the Public Domain?

Reviewer: nigeldavahah - - January 12, 2010
Subject: nice;)
nice

Reviewer: Logoliker2004 - - March 2, 2008
Subject: Bizzare!
Man, this is a pretty strange combination of classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes, particularly that scarecrow. I also thought the part with the Black Sheep impersonating a wolf was kinda funny. All the characters have a Silly Symphony-esque style to it.

But the strangest thing is that the Big Bad Wolf in this cartoon looks suspiciously like Disney's Big Bad Wolf from the "Three Little Pigs" cartoon (a.k.a. Zeke Wolf). He even appears to be voiced by the same voice actor, Billy Bletcher! I wonder if Disney got miffed off by this wolf? ;)

Reviewer: filmsplice - - July 28, 2007
Subject: Iwerks
In a bit of historical relevance, an uncle of mine claimed he created Oswald, sold the rights on the spot, and he provided very credible career information and documentation to back up his story. It wasn't Disney who created the character, and I strongly gather that Iwerks had more creative input than Disney at that point. (My uncle also did marquee design for decades for Hollywood premieres, hand-lettered film titles on mattes for the films themselves, etc., and years back I was given some of the originals...but no cels; they weren't commonly kept back then). Why isn't The Pincushionman--as it was later called--on this site? It's PD and bizarre and quite pleasant. By the way, Castle Films was Universal's home-movie division, not the producer of this short. Castle released material on 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm before changing into Universal8. Iwerks was Ub (or Ubbe) Iwerks; his first name wasn't initialed. Great to see some of his work here, hoping for more truly vintage animation. Anyone have the Winsor McCay films?

Reviewer: Travis1960 - - May 27, 2007
Subject: Funny!
I liked it.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - April 15, 2006
Subject: Who's afraid NOW?
A pretty lame U.B. Iwerks cartoon here actually. Theres a lot of influences, from the Silly Symphony cartoons to even Betty Boop, The plot here combines a lot of things, Boy who cried wolf, Little Bo Beep, and a little Three Little Pigs. All of that to make for a simple story about a wolf who steals a sheep from a flock and the residents effort to get it back. The scarecrow in this sounds like Billy Murray.

Reviewer: Doctor Dave - - November 17, 2005
Subject: Point of Clarification Wilford B. Wolf,
It hs ben well documented since 1985 on the Disney Channel that Walt Disney created "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" BEFORE he EVER created Mickey Mouse. If you follow the documented footage, Walt Disney stole the concept for Oswald and adapted that for Mickey... he even went so far as to make "Oswald the Rat" (a ferret looking cartoon) a rival love interest for Minnie Mouse.

Walt Disney's only original concept ever was "Oswald" which he later stole to make Mickey Mouse. Hd he done that today, Disney would be sued for copyright infringement, something that the Disney Company is too quick to claim against EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!!!

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - August 23, 2005
Subject: A Nursery Rhyme Blended Smoothie
This cartoon is a mishmash of Little Boy Blue, Little Bo Peep, the Big Bad Wolf, a Scarecrow very much like the one in The Wizard of Oz, and jazz music. Well, I guess the original nursery rhyme didn't provide much to go on.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.

Reviewer: WaverBoy - - June 29, 2005
Subject: This isn't the original title of the cartoon...
This classic Iwerks cartoon was originally titled "Little Boy Blue", and the restored version of it, with proper title, can be found on a DVD entitled Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collecton Vol. 1. I'd highly recommend both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, as nearly all of Iwerks' surviving work is represented therein, lovingly restored and compiled by David Shepard and his company, Film Preservation Associates.

Reviewer: Klark Kent 007 - - May 6, 2005
Subject: Ub Iwerks
Mickey came after Oswald. Ub worked on both Oswald and Mickey with Walt. He returned later to develop the MultiPlane Camera for Disney, as well as many brilliant film techniques.

Reviewer: Wilford B. Wolf - - March 13, 2005
Subject: A wolf can't get a even break...
Early 1930s cartoon from Ub Iwerks. Iwerks worked with Disney in the silent era, and was influential in the early design of Mickey Mouse. In the late 1920s, Iwerks struck out on his own, creating a Mickey-like character, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit and Flip The Frog.

By the time Castle got ahold of this film in the 1940s or 1950s, these shorts were already cheaply available, since they did not have the backing of a major Hollywood studio. Which is a shame, since the shorts, like this one, are certainly on the par with Disney or Warner shorts of the era.

This one, featuring Iwerks' elongated body style, is a pastiche of nursery rhymes; Little Boy Blue, Little Bo Peep, and The Big Bad Wolf. The short opens with a scarecrow prompting Little Boy Blue to blow his horn, causing a black sheep of Bo Peep's to do the Charleston. The mischievious black sheep then gets a wolf mask to scare the white sheep, but runs across a real wolf. The BB Wolf then catches one of the sheep, and Bo Peep, Boy Blue, and the scarecrow run off to save it. Interestingly, the scarecrow does most of the work in this short.

Some good gags and good looking transfer round out this film.